The Supreme Court buildings

On the west side of the Padang, across from the Cricket Club, Singapore’s erstwhile Supreme Court was built in Neoclassical style between 1937 and 1939, and sports a domed roof of green lead and a splendid, wood-panelled entrance hall. Formerly the site of the exclusive Hotel de L’Europe, whose drawing rooms allegedly provided Somerset Maugham with inspiration for many of his Southeast Asia short stories, the building has itself been upstaged by Sir Norman Foster’s New Supreme Court just behind on North Bridge Road – mainly thanks to its impressive, flying-saucer-shaped upper tier.